💀 Dying Every Day
Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year) is a podcast by the Perennial Leader Project. Each episode turns a selected passage from Stoic philosophy into a guided meditation designed to help you (and me) learn how to live.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube
Seneca on the shortness of life
Welcome to another episode of Dying Every Day (Stoicism in a Year). We have made it to Day 91, and we’re exploring a well-known passage from Seneca on the shortness of life.
If you enjoy these meditations and would like to become a Perennial Meditations member, I’ve created a few options: (1) Become a member at $5 a month or $39 for the year; (2) If you need assistance, you can use this 50% discount link; and (3) If you can’t afford it — please accept a complimentary membership.
In a letter to a friend, Seneca explained,
Most of mankind, Paulinus, complains about nature’s meanness, because our allotted span of life is so short, and because this stretch of time that is given to us runs its course so quickly, so rapidly—so much so that, with very few exceptions, life leaves the rest of us in the lurch just when we’re getting ready to live. …
It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.
Life is long enough, and it’s been given to us in generous measure for accomplishing the greatest things, if the whole of it is well invested. But when life is squandered through soft and careless living, and when it’s spent on no worthwhile pursuit, death finally presses, and we realize that the life which we didn’t notice passing has passed away. […]
+Adapted from On the Shortness of Life
How do you think about life?
Do you agree with Seneca, “Is life long enough?”
Interestingly, learning how to live requires an understanding of time. It calls us to recognize that we are in a river of time. Life moves forward whether we want it to or not.
The question is how to live our lives. What does it actually mean to use our time (and life) wisely? Likewise, as Seneca stressed, what does it mean to “squander” our time carelessly?
In his classic work Meditations on Death, the Catholic theologian Thomas à Kempis noted,
Your time here is short, very short; take another look at the way in which you spend it. Here man is today; tomorrow, he is lost to view; and once a man is out of sight, it’s not long before he passes out of mind. … If you aren’t fit to face death today, it’s very unlikely you will be by tomorrow; besides, tomorrow is an uncertain quantity; you have no guarantee that there will be any tomorrow. […]
The point of these types of meditations (or insights) is to wake us up to the reality of death and the precious nature of life.
Reflection Prompt
Consider reflecting (or journaling) on what it means to live well. You might ask yourself, “What does it mean to focus one’s life on what truly matters?” and/or “How can I remember to guard and protect my most precious commodity–time?”
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube
—
Thank you for listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. I greatly appreciate your time, attention, and support!
Wonderful. Thanks. Living with stage 4 - AsKLewis.substack.com